Lessons from the past: integrated prevention is successful

Editorial Lessons from the past: integrated prevention is successful Unhealthy lifestyles are the main cause of most chronic diseases, amongst others: smoking, too little exercise, too much alcohol consumption, too much and too fatty food, too much drugs consumption, too much stress and unsafe sexual behaviour. Prevention of these unhealthy lifestyles consists of seven elements: 1. health education to citizens at risk, for instance to adults with overweight problems and obesity; 2. the creation of a healthy environment which makes the healthy choice the easiest: for instance, a smoking ban in restaurants; 3. the creation of financial incentives in the use of preventive interventions: for instance, free of charge biannual overhaul visits to a dentist or primary care doctor; 4. early detection of persons at risk, for instance early detection of stress in young children due to problems in growing up and education by parents; 5. the commitment of general practitioners, medical specialists and other treating doctors to give preventive messages to their patients; 6. a repressive policy in which unhealthy behaviour is punished: for instance punishment of a car driver with a too high blood alcohol level; 7. scientific support to find out which preventive interventions and settings are effective. Following and watching health policy in different Euro-pean countries I seldom see an integrated approach. Health education is something for primary and high schools. The creation of a healthy environment is under the responsibility of a Ministry of Economic Affairs. The early detection of risk behaviour belongs to Municipal Health Authorities or Occupational Health doctors. And courts of justice have their own rules of punishment for unsafe behaviour. So this journal can't produce empirical papers showing that integrated prevention works better than a fragmented approach. Unlike medical interventions where the evidence-base for their effectiveness is a key factor in their use, the lack of empirical evidence on the benefits of integrated prevention services across government sectors is unproven. That's why barriers exist to the development of better integration of preventative care policies than result from fragmented , separate professional, governance, and from budgetary and regulatory responsibilities. However, preventive theorists explain that only an integrated , multi-actor approach is successful [1, 2]. In this approach the preventive message and exercise is repeated and reinforced by all actors such as school, mass media, primary care doctors and health coaches. Supporting modern theories of prevention of chronic diseases are lessons from the …